Printing in a typical computer system is typically controlled by the operating system. When using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) operating system, currently such as Windows® from Microsoft® or Macintosh® from Apple®, a user will select printing, typically either through a menu option or by depressing a button on a button bar. A printer driver will then format the requested printing for the selected printer and queue the printing in a print spool for printing. The printer driver will then download the printer commands that will result in printed pages into the selected printer. The printing is done in conformity with the printer properties in effect for the printer at the time the printing is commanded.
Printer drivers are typically supplied to computer users either by the printer vendor or by the operating system vendor. Since the sophistication of a printer driver user interface can help sell printers, printer vendors have produced evermore sophisticated printer drivers and printer driver interfaces. Some of the features or printer properties currently available in printer drivers and printer driver interfaces include: printing a single page of a document, the entire document, or a range of pages in the document; printing multiple copies of a document; printing the pages in a document in reverse order; printing multiple pages of a document on a single page of paper; landscape and portrait printing; printing utilizing paper from particular trays; printing on different page sizes; printing labels; duplex printing where both sides of a page are printed; and printing with watermarks. In the Windows® operating systems from Microsoft®, printing is done utilizing printer properties. If temporary printer properties are available, they are utilized. Otherwise, the default printer properties of a printer are utilized.
Currently, in such an environment, default printer properties are set or modified in a process that starts by opening a system Printers file folder. Within the system Printers file folder, a printer is selected and activated, typically by double clicking on an icon for the selected printer. A Printer menu is then launched and displayed for that printer that shows, among other things, the current queue or spool for the printer. From the File pull-down Properties menu for the Printer menu, a Printer Properties menu or set of menus is launched. The printer properties modifications made to the Printer Properties menu or set of menus become the default settings for this printer until changed. In the current Microsoft® Windows® environments, this currently requires that these printer properties changes or modification be written to the system Registry, where they are maintained as the default printer properties settings until changed.
Temporary printer properties are set in a similar manner from within application programs. In the Windows® operating systems from Microsoft®, these temporary printer properties are typically set either by selecting printing from the “File” menu or by selecting and activating a Print button in an application program. Either of these actions launches a “Print” menu. One of the options on the Print menu is the selection of which printer to use when more than one are available. Once the printer to be utilized is selected, a user can then also select and activate a “Properties” button. This typically will launch a printer or vendor-specific “Printer Properties” menu or set of menus corresponding to the selected printer. A Printer Properties menu is alternatively launched by selecting “Printer Properties” from the “File” pull-down menu of many applications. Printer properties for the selected printer can then be temporarily modified utilizing the associated Printer Properties menu or set of menus.
One of the problems that arises when changing printer properties from within application programs is that many, if not most, of these temporary printer properties automatically change back to their default values for the currently selected printer after an undefined period of time. This process of reverting printer properties back to default values for this printer appears to a user to be somewhat arbitrary. For example, many of these temporary printer properties are maintained by an application. Thus, as long as that application continues to execute, any print requests on the currently selected printer will utilize these temporary printer properties. On the other hand, the temporary printer properties can be lost when an application terminates. In some other instances, temporary printer properties only remain changed for a single print request, at which time they are reset to their default values. Another problem that arises is when printer settings and printer consumables are changed at the printer, unbeknownst to the user.
One result of temporarily modified printer properties reverting to their default values at what appear to a user to be arbitrary times is that sometimes print requests are printed with inappropriate settings. For example, if a user prints transparencies from a transparency printer tray and then goes on to do something else, he may be surprised when a subsequent print request also prints on transparencies. Alternatively, the user may be trying to utilize duplex printing, only to find that subsequent print requests end up being printed on one side of a page, since printer properties have been unexpectedly set back to their default values.
It would therefore be advantageous for a user of a computer with a Graphical User Interface operating system to know whether temporary or default printer properties are being utilized for printing.